Owen will be back for England
There’s been a lot of talk about the omission of Michael Owen from the England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus but I think it’s a mark of just how good a coach Fabio Capello is.
Capello isn’t afraid of making the big decisions which might mean favouring younger, hungrier players who want to prove themselves at the highest level. It’s a completely different scenario to Steve McClaren’s dropping of Beckham, who is now firmly back in the England fold – not necessarily as a starter, but involved none the less.
Owen has been scoring goals for Newcastle since he returned from injury – five so far this season – but Capello got a great performance from Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney against Croatia, while Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are in form for a team that has wobbled of late but still seems full of confidence. Newcastle is anything but, and while joining up with the England squad might have been a welcome distraction for Michael, it makes sense to go with the strikers Capello has chosen. If they can’t make their mark against Kazakhstan and Belarus then there will rightly be an outcry and the campaign to recall Owen will begin, but they should all, if selected, prove their manager right.
Owen will be back, he’s only 28 and has a few more seasons in which to break the England goalscoring record. The midfield selection is of more interest to me. Steven Gerrard is back and playing better than ever, but after the Croatia game, what will Capello change? The betting at the moment is that the unfortunate Gareth Barry will be dropped in favour of Gerrard and the Liverpool captain will be paired with Frank Lampard in the centre of midfield. Surely now is the time for two of the Premier League’s top players to prove they can do it in an England shirt on the same pitch. If not, Capello has already shown he won’t shirk from making the big decisions.
Written by Louise Moran, a professional sports journalist who blogs about football on betfair.com
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Capello will go without him for as long as he’s confident he can win without him, to keep the hunger up and give himself as wide a base of experienced players as possible.
When things get sticky against good opposition - and for the tournament itself - you can bet that Owen will be in there… if he’s not crocked.
As a Newcastle fan, I’m pretty chuffed. Someone’s found a way for us to keep a fit EMO, while England do without him but still win. That’ll do.
Ihave a problem with this. If Capello’s decision to ignore Owen had anything at all to do with form or fitness how do you account for Capello’s sidekicks telling the media for months leading up to the qualifying campaign that once the qualifiers started Owen would never be considered for an England squad? How can you possibly assess current form six months prior to the present day? It is not possible. Also how can Capello say that Owen is only a goalscorer bearing in mind he has never really seen Owen play since 2001? No the real reasons for Owen’s omission are simply the two goals he scored against Capello’s AS Roma that knocked Capello’s team out of the EUFA Cup in 2001. The fact is Capello has never forgiven Owen for it. All this makes Capello not only a poor manager but a pathetic excuse for a human being as well
Denise - nice conspiracy theory but I doubt it’s a grudge.